A mum brought her eight-year-old in last week, school bag still on his back, and asked if there’s “something newer” than the MiyoSmart glasses he’s been wearing for the past year. She’d seen a headline about a lens that stops myopia rather than just slowing it down. Fair question. I’ve had a handful of parents ask me the same thing over the past month, so here’s what’s actually different.
Hoya has just released MiyoSmart iQ, an update to the original MiyoSmart lens that’s been our go-to option for kids whose short-sightedness is climbing year on year. The original works through tiny defocus segments moulded into the lens, a technology called D.I.M.S., which sends a signal to the retina that tells the eye to stop growing longer. iQ keeps that same principle but pushes it further. The defocus segments now sit closer to the centre of the lens, right over the part of the retina that matters most for this signal. The defocus power is stronger too, and the treated zone stretches further into the periphery than before. None of that will mean much on a lens spec sheet, but the results are what make it worth mentioning.
Hoya ran a twelve-month trial on 196 children in Hong Kong, aged four to twelve, comparing iQ against a control group. The kids wearing iQ barely progressed at all. On average their prescription shifted by less than a tenth of a dioptre over the whole year, against roughly half a dioptre in the control group, and nine out of ten showed no meaningful progression whatsoever. The part I found most interesting was the four to six year olds. That age group has always been the hardest to treat, because younger eyes tend to grow faster and resist intervention, and this is the first lens I’ve seen post real numbers for that bracket rather than skipping past it.
None of this means every child needs to rush out and swap their current lenses. If your child is already on MiyoSmart and their eyes are stable at their last two check-ups, there’s no urgency. But if you’ve noticed their prescription still creeping despite the lenses, or you’re starting a myopia control conversation for the first time, it’s worth asking about at their next visit.
We’re actually a bit further along with this one than most practices. Hoya invited us to trial iQ ahead of its official Australian launch, and we’ve had it in practice here in Hurstville for two months now, fitting more than fifty kids with it before it was available anywhere else. The thing I watched closest was adaptation, since any change to a lens design can take a week or two to settle into. The majority reported no issues at all, which lines up with what we saw when the original MiyoSmart first came out. We stock iQ alongside the other options on our myopia control page, including MiSight contact lenses and atropine drops, because the right lens depends on your child’s age, how fast their eyes are changing, and honestly, how they feel about wearing glasses every day.
If you’re curious whether iQ makes sense for your child, or you just want a straight answer about where their prescription is heading, bring them in for a myopia check. Book online or give us a call on 02 8021 2298 and we’ll talk you through it.